This Is the Run: Soulcalibur - Part 01

I am glad this feature is back and I'm looking forward to seeing how this match evolves over time.

I do wish they were using the "real" Dreamcast version of the game though. The Xbox version is fine, and it's HD so it probably looks better on modern TVs and to younglings who never played SC in its prime, but it's not the real version to me.

Soul Calibur was the Dreamcast's killer app and is one of the games most associated with the machine. It feels wrong to see it showcased through a dirty (though competent) port/remaster!

It's not a deal breaker or anything, just a small disappointment.

I would pay a million dollars for Vinny as Voldo fan art

What is a run?

Good video and good thinking outside the box on the whole "run" concept. Probably my favorite parts were every time Dan would say a character was awful, Vinny would immediately wreck house with it for at least one round. Also seemed like Vinny was playing on a lot of Dan's Yakuza fighting weaknesses, primarily his tendency to be open for a counter after a successful block.

Dirty Dan Ryckert will be defeated

I think Vinny found his main in Cervantes. Too bad he can't hand pick his characters for the run. Fun video though.

Hmmm can we switch to Dark Souls now?

Vinny mentions extracurricular study. I wonder how seriously he'll train, or if he will learn on the job to stretch out the series.

Vinny is my spirit animal. I will always be with #TeamVinny

Having mainly played Soul Calibur 2 back in the day, this still brought back the memories of the fun team battles I had with a friend in that. As a "The Run" series I'm unsure of how this will turn out, but for now it's just fun to watch the fighting game.

This is not science. It is art <3

This is easily becoming my favourite thing on Giant Bomb, and it's also encouraging me to go back and kill off some of my pile of shame.

Go Vinny Go!

I was almost convinced Vinny had a pocket Lizardman. No innuendo.

This is gonna be great. Glad to see Vinny found one of Dan's weaknesses right away, side stepping.

Does any modern fighting game have this mode? It looks kind of awesome.

@hach: Awesome, thanks for that!

You can but this would be a nice feature for the site to include at this point. It was also a factor during a lot of Hitman videos.

Vinny discovering side-stepping was inspirational.

@jiggles: Sound like Dan mains Kilik too

AHHHHHHH THIS WAS SO CLOSE! You can do it, Vinny!

I was always really good at chaining combos with Maxi, probably one of my best fighters. Link in Soul Calibur 2 on GameCube was also my jam, despite him being on the least-played platform for that version of the game, he was still really fun to play as. I dumped a lot of hours into that game!

Soulcalibur did aged well. This game still looks as good as ever! Go Vinny!

Its ok Dan, I used to think I was good at Soulcaliber too :P

I am more confident than ever that you can do this Vinny, IMPRESSIVE!

#teamdan

This is not the run...

...But the soul still burns.

The only games in this series I've played is SCII, thanks to Link.

So wait... do guard impacts exist in SC1? I can't remember. I played a ton of SC2, and they are a cornerstone of being a competent player there.

Now I want to see a Ranking of Fighters with Jason and Jeff watching and making commentary about This Is The Run: Soulcalibur.

Hahaha, you can see the moment Vinny learns to sidestep.

Dan 'I'm not a masher' Ryckert.

"They're a mashy character, I don't really like them" etc etc etc

Where's Blinking White Guy when you need him?

Out of curiosity I looked up the tier list for SC:

S Tier: Taki, Maxi, Xianghua, Yoshimitsu

A Tier: Astaroth, Night/Sieg, Hwang, Lizardman, Sophitia, Ivy, Voldo

B Tier: Rock, Kilik, Mitsurugi, Cervantes, Seung Mina

It seems very well balanced? Surprising if true, I figured a game that has a giant move list for every character would be busted. Granted, that probably won't be relevant to this series.

As for the vid, I'm impressed with Vinny's adaptive strategy, neat use of sidesteps there.

Glad Dan was supportive and cool. Sometimes he can be a bit negative when he's overcompetitive (him vs Klepek), but he was great, and Vinny was as glorious as ever.

PUSH ROCK

I love that Vinny learned almost immediately that sidesteps would kill most of Dan's characters. Good stuff Vinny! take him down!

I'm surprised no Voldo.

that "random" seemed to be just picking the same characters

East is on fire with all this content.

Dan's incessant need to try to do each character's "cool action move" will make this a short series. Patience will win the day, Vinny. All you have to do is just chip away and frustrate him, and know that Dan's going to go for some "finisher" towards the end of each round every time.

Then we can get the This Is The Run of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds that we all deserve. :)

Oh wow! This IS the run!

I saw that Siegfried-guy in a Dark Souls game once.

This is a great idea. There haven't been too many opportunities for Dan to be the heel/antagonist lately, and he's soooo good at that. Excellent choice of game, and great setup and victory conditions.

I'm psyched! GBeast is killin it!

Destroy this man, Vinny. Destroy him.

Wait so the bottom tier includes 4 characters Dan cited as being really good or at least some of his favorites (excluding Rock)? I know tier lists are not hard science or anything but that's.. interesting.

@citizencoffeecake: Tier lists tend to be based around top level play. At lower levels of play different characters will often be more effective, due to things like complexity or easily abuseable moves. Dan may claim he's good at this game, but he's no tournament level player, and I doubt he's faced anyone near that level either.

I figured Vinny's side step technique was born of trying to maneuver Dan into position for a ring out. Much closer than I thought the first round would be

this is just damn fantastic.

Great stuff.